US patent no. 1 (traction wheels for locomotives) was published on 13 July 1836. US patent number 2 (method of manufacturing wool) was published 16 days later on 29 July 1836.
So, when the USPTO got going, it was publishing a patent every 16 days.
5787 US patent applications published on 11 October 2007 – that’s 4 per minute (for the full 24 hours), or a rate 92,592 times more often than 171 years ago.
Things have certainly changed a great deal in the IP space since 1836. However, it’s only been in the past 5 or so years (maybe 10 in some cases) that dramatic changes have started to happen in the IP strategy space.
This is only the start of much bigger things to come.
Here are a few examples of dramatic and relatively recent changes in IP strategy – what would you add?
- Sophisticated IP Securitzation deals (the famed Bowie bonds were issued in 1997);
- IP Auctions that actually seem to work;
- Ever increasing harmonization of IP laws;
- Authorised generics in US Hatch-Waxman litigation;
- Dramatic increases in global brand awareness and value;
- Web 2.0, social networking and the myriod IP issues which this raises;
- The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and similar legislation elsewhere;
- Dramatic increases in open source and creative commons ideas (across many technology areas) to drive innovation and creativity.